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Category Archives: Lesbian

Sharon Gless, no scary good in her Emmy-nominated role on “Nip/Tuck” last season, has been a gay icon since her years on “Cagney and Lacey” then “Queer as Folk.”

Love, love, love Sharon Gless! So, I’m glad to see an interview with her on Advocate.com
about her latest role in the film “Hannah Free,” adapted from the play by Claudia Allen. It tells the story of two women, Hannah (played by Gless) and Rachel, who grow up together in a small town and develop an undying love for each other. Due to the social ramifications of homosexuality in their generation, their love goes through trials as Rachel chooses to live a traditional, heterosexual life while Hannah continues on as an unapologetic lesbian.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Q. So, I’m not going to lie. To prepare I watched you as one my favorite characters you have played, Debbie on Queer ss Folk. What I enjoy about your career is that you’ve played the role of Cagney, which was inspirational to lesbians. You’ve played a role on Queer as Folk that was extremely supportive of the LGBT community, and now you’re actually playing a gay person. How does it feel to finally “be” one of us?
A. I love it! It’s very natural to me. I mean, I’m constantly reminding myself that I’m playing a lesbian. But to me, it’s just another character. It’s not too different than playing other roles because it isn’t about just being gay. It’s about love. In this case, I’m just in love with a woman.

Q. See, that’s interesting because you say Hannah is strong and unapologetic for who she is. Looking back at your rsum, it seems like you have played a variety of parts that fit that mold: opinionated, outspoken, strong, and yet even vulnerable. As an actor, have you always sought out these parts consciously?
A. I didn’t consciously choose them, but I knew I was better at them. Not to say they are easy to play, but I am better with them. What’s interesting is that in real life, I’m pretty shy. But I do have that quality in me, that mouth. It’s just more fun playing outrageous people like that. Hannah fits the roles I love playing — she and Rachel are so contrasting.

Q. Relevant to what’s going on right now in civil rights history with Proposition 8 [the measure rescinding same-sex marriage rights in California]. You’re playing a character that can’t be with the one she knows she loves with all her heart because others don’t accept it, while living your real life in a historical moment where people are now legally having that opportunity taken away. What are your thoughts on Proposition 8?
A. It won’t last. It’s like gays just aren’t allowed to do anything. And the thing is, the proposition isn’t just about being gay, it’s about being a human being. Marriage isn’t just about love, it’s also about the legal benefits. Why can’t same-sex couples at least have that? I believe it will be turned around. It’s against the Constitution and just won’t stand. It might take bit by bit, but [Hannah Free] is just about that — people just trying to get only what they deserve.

Tonight, Cherry Jones makes her debut as the first female oresident of the United States in a two-hour “24” movie pn FOX which serves as a prequel to the new season in January. There’s a nice interview with the Tony winner now up on Advocate.com. She was on her way to a screening of “Doubt” at the time of the interview.

I’ve excerpted some of the questions I found of the most interest.

Q. Since you mentioned going to the film, I’d love to know what you think of Meryl Streep in the role for which you won a Tony.
A. It’s pretty exciting casting. I was smitten from the time I came to New York in 1978 and saw her Kate in “Taming of the Shrew” with Raul Julia, so from then on, I was hers. So…were there a few days when I fantasized about doing the film when I knew it was going to be made into a film? Of course. But, honestly, after doing it on stage 708 times, they probably did me a favor by not asking.

Q. Seven hundred and eight times… That’s a heavy role to do day in and day out.
A. The bottom line is, I’ve always been very pragmatic in my career, which is very helpful and helps you negotiate just about anything. And people expect me to be bitter and angry, and fortunately, for whatever reason, that’s not my temperament.

Q. You starred with Brooke Shields in What Makes a Family — about a lesbian couple and the landmark Florida adoption case and custody battle — and now, here in California, we’re fighting wildly to ensure that Prop. 8 doesn’t pass. Are you at all shocked or surprised that we’re still having to fight for these rights?
A. Oh, not in the slightest. I mean, honestly, I remember the first time I heard Bob Dole say on the floor of the Senate “gay marriage,” I thought I was going to fall over; even though he was mentioning it in a pejorative way, I thought, Wow, we’ve really come a way that Bob Dole is talking about gay marriage, even in a negative way. I’m old enough that any movement forward is thrilling, not fast enough, but understandable in this polarized nation of ours. If Barack Obama is not elected president, perhaps the rest of the world will finally understand that half of this country is being held hostage by the other half.

Q. I know that you thanked your partner when you won the Tony back in 1995, and then you kissed Sarah (Paulson) and thanked her when you won for Doubt, which were both watershed moments for lesbian visibility. Have you always been out and honest about who you are?
A. Yes. I’m a very timid person in a lot of ways, many, many ways, but for some reason, my sexuality has always brought the lion out in me. I’ve never been timid about that. I’ve always made a point of telling everyone I meet — when the time is right — that I’m gay.

I’m missing Rosie O’Donnell the gay activist right now. She waged a brave battle against the ban on gay adoption in Florida, started the gay family cruises, dramatically traveled across the country to get married in San Francisco in 2004, and during her year as co-host of “The View,” she talked about partner Kelli and their four children on the show all the time and I think opened some people’s minds.

But as people are marching for equal rights in dozens of states this weekend, Rosie has come off as indifferent. At Friday night’s Broadway opening of “Billy Elliot,” Rosie spoke to “Extra” and was asked to react to the passing of Proposition 8: “I was married four years and I was annulled three years ago, so for me this fight is not new. Prop 8 is nothing new for me. This has been a long journey…and eventually the world will catch up.”

Been there, done that I guess.

She’s glad Sarah Palin was not elected veep but said: “I’d like to have a beer with her. I’d like to meet her kids. She seems like a pretty nice woman. Although I have to say, I am thrilled her party did not win. [But] you got to give it to her for spunk.”

Oh, I love this. This really puts the cherry on top of a wonderful day as far as the recharged gay rights movement goes. The AP reports that the very funny and very smart comedian Wanda Sykes talked publicly this weekend, for the first time, about being a lesbian.

The “New Adventures of the Old Christine” co-star said at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas on Saturday the passage of the same-sex marriage ban in California has led to her be more outspoken about being gay: “You know, I don’t really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn’t feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life,”

“Everybody that knows me personally they know I’m gay,” she added. “But that’s the way people should be able to live their lives.”

She said passage of Proposition 8 made her feel like she was “attacked.”

“Now, I gotta get in their face,” she said. “I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”

So proud of you Wanda! Now I’m an even bigger fan…

Here’s xome video from the event:

Bonus clip: Here is one of Wanda’s earlier comedy routines on hay marriage:

As Proposition 8 in California threatens same sex marriage rights, musician Melissa Etheridge shares her thoughts on marriage, family and equal rights.

Here is an excerpt:

Prop 8 is a blatantly hateful, and fearful proposition that I believe the great citizens of California can see through. The proponents of it have run the most fearful of television ads telling the people that if this doesn’t pass they will have to teach about homos to small grade school children. I can’t seem to recall any relationships ever being taught in school and I can’t find anything about that in this proposition. Now, I know my preference of life mate freaks some people out. Maybe it is just their fear of sex or intimacy. I know that they hold up the bible and say that it’s wrong. Fine, let me stand before my creator and take any consequences there might be to living my life in truth and balance with my spirit.

I believe in our democracy. I believe in our constitution. I believe we live in the greatest country in the world. I believe that we are as strong as our weakest link and if we deny any of our citizens the right to “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” then we deny it to all of us.

I could give a rats about Madonna’s break-up (who didn’t see that coming?) but Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson?

Say it ain’t so Joe!

Well, it ain’t.

A story from the Daily Mail in England blared, “Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson on the rocks after string of arguments.” The same story quoted an anonymous source saying, “Sam needs her space away from Lindsay.”

A rep for Lindsay told Access Hollywood the story in The Daily Mail is falkse:”They are fine.”

Samantha had a far more colorful answer when asked about the report by a paparazzi Wednesday night: “Are you [expletive] kidding me?!”

With the proponents of Proposition 8 stepping up their efforts, it’s nice to hear that another famous couple is taking the plunge. Gay marriage needs all the positive free publicity it can get!

Singer Melissa Etheridge told Extra! that she will legally wed longtime partner Tammy Lynn Michaels. The couple had a commitment ceremony five years ago, long before same-sex marriage was legal in California.

“Yes, we have four children and we’re trying to find the right time,” Melissa said.

There are no details of a time and place for the nuptials but I wish them continued happiness. In 2006, they welcomed twins, a boy named Miller Steven and a girl named Johnnie Rose. Melissa already has two children from a previous relationship with Julie Cypher.

After months of refusing to comment on the public speculation about their relationship, actress Lindsay Lohan and DJ Samantha Ronson finally publicly confirmed their relationship in a L.A. radio call-in show last night, in a short, casual exchange confirming that they’ve been together “a very long time.”

Lohan and Ronson called into the radio show Loveline last night to chat with DJ Ted Stryker about DJ AM’s recent survival of a plane crash that killed four other passengers.

In wrapping up the conversation, Stryker casually asked Lindsay on air, “Now, you guys, you and Samantha have been going out for how long now? Like two years? One year? Five months? Two months?” Lohan responded, “A long…a very long time.”

“I hope you guys stay together, you’re a very lovely looking couple,” Stryker added, to which Lindsay replied, “Thank you very much.”

Anyone who saw this episode knows it had Emmy written all over it. Out actress Cynthia Nixon played a woman with multiple personalities on an episode of “Law & Order: SVU” last fall and was just stunning as she segued from one persona to another. Not many actresses could have pulled it off but Cynthia did and at Saturday’s Creative Arts Emmys, she won for outstanding guest actress in a drama.

It;s the second Emmy for Cynthia who won her first trophy in 2004 for playing Miranda on “Sex and the City.” She also won a Tony Award a few years back for the Broadway play “Rabbit Hole.”